The present embodiments relate to simultaneous viewing of different types of information. Ultrasound imaging allows users to visualize several layers of data. For example, Doppler data may be superimposed on a B-mode image using color. The B-mode information is presented in gray scale with echogenic tissue as bright pixels and hypoechoic structures as dark pixels. Simultaneously, color is assigned to represent velocity of flow through each anatomical location, for example using red to indicate flow towards the transducer and blue for flow away from the transducer. Using this technique, two types of data (echogenicity and flow) are simultaneously visualized in one image. Similar approaches are feasible for three dimensional data. However, presentation of additional information may be confusing.
There are clinically relevant scenarios where more than two types of data are simultaneously visualized. For example, in preparation for a biopsy, a user may want to visualize B-mode, Doppler, and elastographic information in order to plan a path for instrument travel to a target. To allow for the additional information, separate images are displayed side by side. While practical, this method may have disadvantages, including a reduction of the physical size of a given image to fit both images on the display and/or requiring the user to approximate the spatial relationship of structures in separate images based on their locations within the images. The same anatomical location may appear quite different using B-mode versus elastographic scanning, requiring the user to mentally register these structures relative to the image boundaries.